


Begin as We Mean to Go On

by Merfilly



Series: A New Order [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, and yes that is our favorite pirate mentioned, being right under the Sith after all, but maybe there was even more among the Guard, the chips are to blame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 21:51:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7378654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Coruscant Invasion raised questions for a pair of masters, but it's the former Padawan who is already moving to cope with her visions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Begin as We Mean to Go On

Trawler moved into position, still uncertain of the orders given. Hiding from their own brothers in the Guard felt treacherous to him, but Nails and Oddjob were with him. Commander Tano, their lady of salvation, had asked them to move into the Guard's lives, to go unseen, and merely watch. Why they should have to watch their own brothers, and what they would do from there, had not been explained, but the trio would do as they were ordered.

Yet, when Trawler had seen the Guard through one full day and then another, he began to understand what it was that their Commander feared. These men did not say the litany, did not keep any of the rituals, none of those few things that made the Vod'e a true people with their own culture. He carefully made his way to Nails at their planned rendezvous, waiting only moments for Oddjob to arrive.

"Do you see it?" he asked, and their faces told him they had. "Our brothers in red have fallen, and we must stand ready to save them."

"How shall we do that, Trawler? We are three, and they are a legion and more," Nails pointed out.

"The same way the Commander handled the first set she saved, vod," Oddjob said, smiling broadly. "We gas them, when the time is right, before they get their buckets sealed."

"Will we know when?" Nails asked, thinking of the practical side even as he nodded to the plan.

"The Commander won't let us down," Trawler said, confident in the young woman that led them.

`~`~`~`~`

"Shaak, you cannot be comfortable like that," Plo called as he woke and realized he was not alone. "And you, my son, should not have remained this entire time as you were."

"Do all Jedi get cranky with old age, Master Ti?" Wolffe asked, even as his lap full of Kel Dorian head moved, giving him leave to rise and shake out his body's stiffness. 

"It is not being cranky, Wolffe, but the need to pretend he was not enjoying being cared for in the way he tries to care for us all," Shaak Ti answered, uncurling from where she had been on the other side of the room, so that there was room beside her. Plo Koon rose and moved to take it, his taloned fingers carefully reaching out to brush her robe back and check her injuries. She sighed and opened the garment to show there was nothing seeping through the bandages. 

"Why are you here, not in the comfort of your own rooms? Not that I mind waking to such energies in my dwelling, my friend, but your injuries were severe. And I know how well you prefer your nest to a bed or couch."

Shaak laughed, low and melodious, before leaning in against his shoulder. Wolffe was prowling, but many of her sons found it difficult to be still for long periods of time. It made them strong hunters, like her own people. 

"I feel something is amiss, with the attack upon us, and something I can't quite name," she told him, feeling his arm go around her shoulders. This, the quiet comfort of their friendship, expressed by something as simple as sharing space and touch, was part of the reasoning behind her need to change the Order. 

"I felt it too, yet I cannot name just what it is either," Plo told her, letting her settle as any of his foundlings had done in the past. Why had he not seen the need for change, in the frowns of his peers and words about indulgences?

Wolffe whirled to face them, and even he had to soften the snarl in his throat to see the peaceful bond of the man he would follow to his death with the woman that had nurtured and trained so many younger brothers. "They knew too much of the layout. Tracking device or not, they bypassed too much of security. The outlying sensors failed. All in all, there were too many failures around the central world of the Republic's security for me to see it as anything but orchestrated from within.

"Worst of all, whomever did so, managed to do it with my brothers of the Home Guard. Do not doubt that I noted their suspicious absence from efforts to guard the Senators, their staff, and the Chancellor alike. As if they were ordered away from the fray."

Plo and Shaak exchanged a look, then stared at Wolffe.

"Leave it to a vod to explain this in terms even I can understand in my 'old age' as it were," Plo said with wry amusement.

"It doesn't answer who, but it certainly narrows things down," Shaak agreed. "As it had to be someone within the upper levels of the Senate. One with access to the Guard on a regular basis, whose authority is unquestioned by them."

"Then we have somewhere to begin seeking a traitor, a hunt as you call it," Plo answered.

For a moment, Shaak Ti smiled -- with the same feral intensity, pointed teeth on display, as the young Commander Tano -- and Wolffe knew they would find answers soon. Maybe, just maybe, he could believe that his brothers would stop being slaughtered.

`~`~`~`~`

Ahsoka shifted slightly, her eyes but narrow slits, as she and the rest of her command remained tucked inside the freighter that was unloading its cargo now. She had to listen, with her hearing and the Force, but so far, the pirate was playing his part. When Ahsoka had negotiated this, it had been sudden and necessary. Her advance party had reported in, and the visions were coming in flickers even outside of her attempts to sleep.

The cargo crates they were in had limited air supplies, but they would not have to stay long inside. Her deal would see them placed in key locations, able to slip out and disable security measures swiftly. 

She only hoped the Jedi understood and this didn't lead to another trial for treason for her and her men. Because this time, Anakin would not be here to save her.


End file.
